Tracking adaptation and measuring development (TAMD)

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) is working with partners to develop and pilot a framework, called Tracking Adaptation and Measuring Development (TAMD), to track adaptation and measure its impact on development.

What is TAMD?

Countries are making very large investments in climate change adaptation. To plan, implement and track the interventions they are investing in, they need robust assessments of the expected and actual returns. They need to know whether adaptation is keeping development on course and whether the adaptation costs and benefits are distributed equitably.

Evaluate how far, and how well, climate risks are managed at international, national and sub-national scales, and

Use vulnerability and development indicators to assess whether development outcomes bring better local climate resilience, and whether that aggregates at larger scales to contribute to climate-resilient development.

Over 2012 and 2014, working with partners we have piloted TAMD in several countries to support local and national monitoring and evaluation and to develop the conceptual framework. The development of robust and cost-effective adaptation evaluation frameworks is under way.

Work started in Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal, and Pakistan in 2012, and has focused on supporting local adaptation planning and on experimental approaches to the framework. More recently, work has also begun in Ethiopia, Cambodia, Uganda and Tanzania. This work is still in progress.

The TAMD initiative concentrates on developing robust and bespoke frameworks tailored to national circumstances by:

Partnering with government agencies responsible for delivering social and economic development

Working to make climate change a mainstream part of national development planning

Using existing information on development progress

Introducing new thinking and frameworks for assessing climate risk management, and

Fostering shared learning and a community of practice among public sector staff across developing countries.

TAMD can be used by government officials at local and national levels, NGOs and development partners.

IIED is working with the climate change consultancy Garama 3C Ltd to develop and pilot the TAMD framework, with funding from the UK's Department for International Development (DfID). We are also working in close partnership with the relevant government agencies of Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal, and Pakistan, and also in other countries such as Uganda, Cambodia and Ethiopia.